Arbor Day

Paige and I celebrated Arbor Day last week by going to an arboretum. We met a friend and her kids for a picnic lunch and a few hours of play at the Children's Garden. The Children's Garden is an outdoor place filled with treehouses, wading pools, flower beds, and tree mazes. Basically, the kids get to enjoy the outdoors in specially designed hands-on exhibits.Of course, little did we know what a popular holiday Arbor Day is. Admission to the arboretum was free that day and to say that the place was packed is a huge understatement. The line up to get into the Arboretum was long and causing a big traffic back-up, fortunately a lot of the visitors were there for a plant sale so the Children's Garden was busy but not unbearable.

It was warm and sunny and luckily there were lots of water features to cool the kids off. In these pictures, Paige and her friend Zach are taking turns pumping and drinking from the spigot. The second picture shows what happens when you try to drink at the same time! Uh-oh! That was a close one!

Hail to the Chief!

This blog wouldn't truly be mine if I didn't post something about how much I love President Obama and since he has now been President for 100 days, what a fitting occasion. I will admit, I am a bit of an adoring fan and I do own an Obama t-shirt, but I didn't buy a commemorative plate and I have no interest in the tacky "Chia Obama" (really, I can't believe those things are big sellers.)

What I most admire about President Obama is his leadership and his ability to inspire others. Let's be honest, it has been quite a few years (16 at least, longer for some of us) since we have had a president that we could really be proud of. Despite good work in some areas, it's not like I would every say to myself, I hope my kids grow up to be like President Clinton or President Bush. I think the President of the United States, although not perfect, should be honorable, compassionate, trustworthy, and smart. He or she should be a person that we look up to with pride and feel honored to have him/her represent us--Americans.

I know some will disagree, but I can't help but feel hopeful when it comes to Obama. Okay, maybe I am just a Democrat who feels like I have finally come out of the desert after eight years, but I am moved to tears during presidential press conferences. I might note that I cried during G.W. Bush's press conferences too, but it was the cringing-in-frustration or laughing at grammatical faux-paus type of tears.

Anyways, I appreciate Barack Obama and the symbol he is in America. He is progressive, intellectual, cool, and a good family man. Let's hope for more and better 100 days.

Sporty

It's spring time and that means spring sports!

This is the first year that Paige is old enough to play on a team so she is doing t-ball. I think she is pretty cute with her pink mitt and braided hair.

T-ball is co-ed, so she is playing with a bunch of boys. She is one of only two girls on her team but she is holding her own (although it is not too hard because basically none of the kids have any idea what they are doing!)

The format of the league she is in has the kids meet every Saturday. They practice with their team for one hour and then play another team in a game for the next hour. During the games, all the kids get to hit and run the bases. There are no outs, once everyone has hit, the teams switch and the other team hits. At the end of each inning after all the kids have hit, for fun, they let the coach hit and the kids try to get him out. The kids have a good time chasing the coaches down.

Anwyay, on Saturday Paige has just hit and is standing at 2nd base when her coach comes up to bat. I seriously don't know what he was thinking but he line drives the ball right into the kids and sadly it hits Paige right in the stomach. She doubles over, starts screaming and then comes running toward me crying. It was so sad. She had this perfectly round, baseball-shaped red mark on her stomach exactly where the ball hit her. Of course, she says she is not playing anymore. Dave and I felt like if we didn't get her back out on the field she would be too scared to play again so we encouraged her to go back in the game. I am sure it was pretty funny listening to us tell her that "everyone gets hurt in sports, but when you feel better you have to be brave and go back in, your team needs you, and of course, when you are brave after getting hurt, you definitely deserve ice cream!"

Needless, to say after some consoling and cajoling she went back in the game. Fortunately she wasn't hurt badly (thank goodness it wasn't in the face!) After, she calmed down she was mostly just mad and embarassed, so she stomped out on to the field with a big scowl on her face but she stuck with it and after a while was fine. I might mention too, that we had to reassure and console the coach almost as much as we did Paige, he felt sooo bad.

And of course, after the game, our little t-baller got some ice cream....or should I say frozen vanilla custard with Reese's Pieces.

After our morning of t-ball, we were off to an afternoon of soccer with Ashley. She is playing again with the same team and coach she always has. She is even wearing the same jersey that she has had since Kindergarten! I can't believe it still fits her.

Ashley played well and her team won 4-1. She had a good game and wasn't too rusty after not having played all winter. It will take her a little time to get back into game shape; she has been a little sore from running so much. She got to experience the relief of a little Icy Hot rub on her thigh muscle that night.

Sports will be keeping us busy for the next few weekends, but fortunately we have had nice weather and look forward to some more this weekend.

Easter

We had a busy Easter weekend, which began with the long dormant Smith Bakery opening for business. In anticipation of freedom to eat some Easter goodies and a few church potlucks/activities, I baked some tasty white rolls, 6 dozen mini chocolate muffins, oatmeal rolls, cinnamon rolls, a strawberry pie, and my first ever lemon meringue pie. (I realized I had never made a lemon meringue pie--it wasn't perfect, but overall turned out pretty good.) My oven was working hard Friday and Saturday. Of course, I now am back to eating well, so the "bakery" is closed again until further notice.

Besides all the tasty baked items to enjoy this weekend, we also enjoyed having Dave home for the first time in over a month. On Friday evening, we all went together on a "Walk With Christ," an event hosted by another ward from our church. Basically, you took a tour to learn about the life of the Savior. Rooms in the church building were staged and decorated to depict different scenes, such as the last supper, the garden tomb, etc. It was very well done and helped to remind us of the true importance of Easter.

The next morning, we had a Primary activity (this is where all the chocolate muffins went.) Dave was a huge help as a last minute flight attendant. There was an Easter egg hunt after. I don't have any pictures but I think the girls had a good time.

Later, we colored eggs at home. As you can see this takes serious concentration! This year we opted for the tye-dye coloring kit. It's less messy than filling 8 cups of dye and just waiting for the inevitable spill. With the tye-dye kit, you put an egg in a plastic bag and squirt a few drops of coloring into the bag and swirl it around--done with little mess.

Of course, I did end up having to mop up a spill anyway. Paige spilled her "Shirley Temple" drink during Easter dinner, which left the whole floor sticky--some things are just meant to be.
That evening before bed, Dave had a very nice discussion with the girls about the true importance of Easter.

Sunday was a very nice day, that we just spent together as a family. After enjoying baskets left by the Easter bunny. We got all dressed up and headed to Stake Conference.

Once we got home, we ate dinner, which included cinnamon rolls, roast turkey breast sandwiches, hard boiled eggs, salads and fruit. After dinner, the girls took turns hiding plastic eggs around the house and hunting for them, while mom and dad loafed on the couch.